Betrayed By My Husband, I Married His Billionaire Uncle

Anika, 25By the time I stepped out of the airport, my entire body ached.The long hours in a cramped seat had left my neck stiff and my shoulders sore, and dragging my luggage behind me only made it worse. I paused for a moment just outside the terminal, adjusting my grip and scanning the area out of habit.I leaned against my suitcase, closing my eyes for a second. I had spent two weeks in New Orleans, cleaning up the mess Merrick’s local directors had made. I was the one who balanced the ledgers; I was the one who settled the strikes. Without me, the company was a house of cards waiting for a breeze.But I wasn't even worth a seat on my own husband’s private jet."The jet was needed to fetch Miss Karla’s favorite chef from Italy, Ma’am," Merrick’s secretary had told me over the phone with a voice like cold stone. "Mr. Sterling says you can find your own way back. It’s just a flight, after all."A flight. In a cramped seat, while I was already running on fumes.I pulled out my phon

Anika The icy rain was no longer just a weather condition; it felt like a thousand needles sewing me into my own coffin as I stood there, paralyzed, watching them. The sound of their laughter, so warm and intimate, sliced through the rhythmic drumming of the storm until my own heartbeat sounded like a death knell in my ears. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, not until Merrick’s head turned and his dark eyes found mine.The laughter didn't stop—it just transformed into something pretentious. He tapped Karla’s shoulder, and they both stood up with a synchronized grace that told me they had practiced this dance for years while I was away, working myself to the bone."Anika?" My sister’s voice was like honey laced with arsenic, that innocent, wide-eyed look she always used to get her way perfectly in place. "You're here? Goodness, how long have you been standing there getting drenched? I got better so quickly, and the doctors said I should rest at home. I hope you don't mind, your husb